Give the man room

by Robert J. Casey; Mary Montgomery Borglum

This is the second dedication. There will be others by other Presidents in other years. When we get through there will be something for the American people that will last through not just generations but for thousands of thousands of years. And I think that we can perhaps meditate a little on those Americans ten thousand years from now when the weathering on the faces of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln shall have proceeded to perhaps a depth of a tenth of an inch, meditate and wonder what our descendants—and I think they will still be here—will think about us. Let us hope that at least they will give us the benefit of the doubt, that they will believe we have honestly striven every day and generation to preserve for our descendants a decent land to live in and a decent form of government to operate under.

Doane Robinson, Senator Norbeck and William Williamson occupied seats in the front row of the platform, with John Boland immediately behind. The President remained in his automobile throughout the ceremony, with his party, including Governor Berry of South Dakota, around him. It was Senator Norbeck’s last public appearance. At the end he smiled and handed to Gutzon a note of a few lines reminding him touchingly of the satisfaction he must feel to see this accomplishment.

At this time, the summer of 1936, the work on the Lincoln face had advanced enough to show his eyes and part of his nose. It was pushed on so that on September 17, 1937, the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, this head also was ready for unveiling.

For years Gutzon had been undecided whether to carve Lincoln with or without a beard. He had tried it both ways in other carvings with almost equal effect. But he had a feeling that a beard added strength to the face and that the world was more familiar with a bearded Lincoln. That was the face he finally decided to carve. He sent a small model of it to Franklin Roosevelt, carrying out his promise that Roosevelt would be the first to know.

The Lincoln head was dedicated on schedule and for the first time a Rushmore program was carried by radio broadcast to the entire country. Former Congressman Williamson, a member of the Rushmore Commission, presided. United States Senator Edward R. Burke was chief speaker. There was an impressive moment when the sculptor called the roll of “all those friends of Rushmore whose understanding sympathy and instant aid made this great memorial possible, and who are now with the gods—Calvin Coolidge, Peter Norbeck, James Cullinan.” Then taps sounded from the distant heights. The trooper who blew the call was suspended from the side of Washington’s head, a quarter of a mile away.

During the rest of 1937 much work was done on the Roosevelt head. Gutzon wanted it in condition to photograph for the appropriations committee. He himself had to spend much time in Washington worrying about the financing. He also made a brief trip to France to look after the erection of his statue of Tom Paine, modeled in the Hermosa studio.

As a model for Roosevelt he used a bust of the President that he had made during his lifetime. There was trouble finding stone enough for the head. He had to go back 120 feet in the rock before the model could be fitted. This was trying work.

All in all, 1937 was a typical Borglum year. His contract with the Commission was due for revision. The matter dragged along for months before an agreement could be reached. The sculptor got no pay for all that year, and he had to pay his lawyers a quarter of what he would have received to get any contract at all. The new contract was, in the main, satisfactory. It provided that the sculptor working with the Commission should prosecute work on the memorial to a successful conclusion. Gutzon felt that nothing but his death could stop it now.

In 1938 there was a tremendous rush of tourists who could hardly be accommodated. Congress appropriated $300,000 for the comfort of visitors and the finishing of the carvings. In the same year the Rushmore Commission was reorganized. Senator Key Pittman, long a friend of Rushmore, became chairman, succeeding Fred Sargent, who had died. Kent Keller, chairman of the House Library Committee, became vice-chairman. An executive office was established at Rushmore for the handling of accounts and materials.